The disclosure relates to a composition for authenticating an article and to authentication technology for polymer based articles. More particularly the disclosure relates to methods of authenticating polymer based articles, methods of facilitating such authentication, methods of making articles capable of authentication and processes for making the composition.
Data storage media or optical storage media traditionally contain information such as machine-readable code, audio, video, text, and/or graphics. Data storage media often include one or more substrates made of polymers such as polycarbonate.
A major problem confronting the various makers and users of data storage media is the unauthorized reproduction or copying of information by unauthorized manufacturers, sellers and/or users. Such unauthorized reproduction or duplication of data storage media is often referred to as piracy and can occur in a variety of ways, including consumer level piracy at the point of end use as well as whole sale duplication of data, substrate and anti-piracy information at the commercial level. Regardless of the manner, piracy of data storage media deprives legitimate software and entertainment content providers and original electronic equipment manufacturers significant revenue and profit.
Various attempts to stop piracy at the consumer level have included the placement of electronic anti-piracy signals on information carrying substrates along with the information sought to be protected. The machine readers and players of such data storage media are configured to require the identification of such anti-piracy signals prior to allowing access to the desired information. Theoretically, consumer level duplications are unable to reproduce these electronic anti-piracy signals on unauthorized copies and hence result in duplicates and copies that are unusable. However, numerous technologies to thwart such consumer level anti-piracy technologies have been and continue to be developed.
Makers and users of data storage media continue to seek new compositions and methods of tagging and authenticating data storage media substrates that are currently unknown and/or unavailable to unauthorized manufacturers, sellers, and/or users of data storage media. They are particularly interested in authentication markers or combinations of authentication markers for use in data storage media substrates that are difficult to obtain, reproduce, use, and/or find for the purposes of authenticating data storage media substrates and data storage media.